http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/06/18/ ... ons-worth/
This is an insane rumor, a huge rumor unlike any rumor before. However, moderators and people in the know have been locking and deleting any thread or discussion about it at various websites. So there seems to be something here. And it fits with old rumors and information that has been discussed quietly in the background for years now.
The two most recently found episodes were kept secret for some time, until minutes before they were screened publicly, and of the two, one is still not commercially available. There is a huge amount of secrecy about archive Doctor Who releases these days, and any negotiations and possible finds would be kept very secret at this point, and be blabbed about by a half-in-the-dark Ian Levine, exactly as is happening now.
If there was a massive, 3-ton shipment of pricelessly rare films, a lot of money would have to be paid to cover that. And the BBC and Doctor Who archive release folk certainly are notoriously cheap and underfunded. The idea that people producing the show now, like Steven Moffat and "erased" Caroline Skinner, well, that would make sense; they'd need money and backing to pull something this huge off.
Tony Ingram said: "The latest I've heard on the big rumour, from someone who may be in a position to know, is that the BBC are keeping quiet as negotiations are still ongoing and rather delicate. This same person claims that a part of the reason it's taking so long is that the person who was handling it for the BBC is no longer associated with Doctor Who, said association having come to an abrupt end for unrelated reasons." (aka Caroline Skinner)
There's also a rumor about 2 episodes from Australia.
Babelcolour writes: The current madness enveloping Doctor Who fandom continues to become increasingly bizarre. The frankly *massive* wildfire rumour sweeping the internet regarding the recovery of nearly all the currently missing episodes of Who is being persistently ignored by the people who could quash it. At missing-episodes.com Paul Venezis had locked and banned threads discussing the rumoured returns (on a forum dedicated to missing episodes!), the Roobarbs thread seems to have a semi-permanent presence by messrs Roberts & Crocker, both of whom are not posting. The silence is deafening. And what deductions does that lead one to? That they cannot discuss it. The alternative (that they're merely refusing to) is just too obtuse to be true. A very difficult position to find oneself in. And if they are unable to comment then, to me at least, it adds credence to the rumours. I hope it bears fruit soon... And PS, I know nothing.
http://24.media.tumblr.com/b07af6b685ca ... o1_500.jpg
One version of the rumor has three stories already returned to the BBC (Marco Polo, Enemy of the World, Web of Fear), with negotiations continuing for the rest. The man with the films is described as eccentric, and playing up his eccentricities to get what he wants.